![]() His crew of four sergeants survive uninjured, but Franklin’s arm is badly hurt. John Franklin is an RAF pilot of a Wellington bomber which once over the mountains he has to bring down in an emergency landing in German-occupied France. The glacial valleys were alternately shadowy and white as starch in the blank glare of the full moon and then in the distances, in all directions, as far as it was possible to see, the high now peaks were fluid and glistening as crests of misty water. ![]() Sometimes the Alps lying below in the moonlight had the appearance of crisp folds of crumpled cloth. The first lines create an evocative picture: Re-reading it now was akin to returning to it afresh because I couldn’t remember any of the detail, just the general setting. The book was a re-read for me: my mum had urged me to read it when I was a teenager as it was one of her favourite novels. The title comes from the first line of Agincourt, a poem by Michael Drayton (1563–1631). This was Bates’s first financially successful novel, published towards the end of WWII. When I looked at my shelves, I didn’t have much choice from this year – Colette’s Gigi, which as a short novella I’ll try and squeeze in, and my choice below were the only ones immediately to hand (although I think I have a copy of Bellow’s The Dangling Man somewhere)…įair Stood the Wind for France by H.E. ![]() 1944 is the latest year selected by Simon and Karen in their biannual reading years club. ![]()
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